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MEMORY MAP
ADDRESS
2
3
3
4
4,5
5
6
8
12
15
16
16
19
20
24
ROUTINES
Information and Chairmen — Trea$ury NoteS
Input/Output — by Abed Kahale
QPC — Bob Hartung
LarKen Boards — Bob Swoger
Letters - Rod Gowen
Fire HP 50GC— Bob Swoger
Sinclair E-Mail List
From The Chairman's Disk — Donald Lambert
FILES
QL Hacker's Journal — Tim Swenson
ZipaDee BAS — Al Feng
QLABer Update — Al Feng
QLATer — Al Feng
How to Hack on the Spectrum Part 4 — Les Cotrrell
RMG - Inventory — Jack Boatwright
SUBROUTINES
Unclassified Ads
FWD Computing
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ZXir QLive Alive! ©
Established 1991 The Timex/Sinclair NorthAmerican User Groups Newsletter
T/SNUG Information
We wish to support the following
platforms: ZX-80/81 , TS-1000,
Spectrum, TS-2068, Z88 and QL. If
you have any questions about any of
these fine Sinclairs, contact the:
Chairman
Chief Motivator
Donald S. Lambert (ISTUG)
Vice-Chairmen
Tape & JLO PD Library
D. G. Smith
415 Stone St.
Johnstown, PA 15906
814 535-6998
Z88 Library
Dave Bennett (HATSUG)
1275 Timber View Dr.
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055-9146
717 732-4374
QL Hacker's Journal
Timothy Swenson
38725 Lexington St
Fremont, C A 94536
swensontc@geocities. com
TS-2068
Rod Humphreys (VSUG)
10984 Collins PI.
Delta, BC V4C 7E6 Canada
604 583-2819
QL PD Library
John Donaldson (CATUG)
835 Foxwood Cir.
Geneva, IL 60134-1631
630 232-6147
AERCO & Z80 Emulator
Keith Watson
41634 Amberly Dr.
Mt. Clemens, MI 48038
BBS — ==GAT0R=="--
Bob Swoger (CATUG)
613 Parkside Cir.
Streamwood, IL 60107-1647
630 837-7957 Work 847 576-8068
Any of the above can also be
reached by E-Mail through the
Club BBS 847 632-5558
ZXir QLive Alive!
Is the newsletter of T/SNUG, the
Timex/Sinclair North American User
Groups, providing news and
software support to the T/S com-
munity in a VOLUME of four
newsletters per year; beginning with
the Spring (March) i ssue.
T/SNUG' s main goal is to
preserve arid encourage the
use of Sinclair computers
by providing an open
forum for the exchange of
knowledge, building and
maintaining of software
libraries. Providing
vendors, repair service and
members with free ad
space
It is the user groups and individual
subscribers, rather than the vendors,
that provide the pecuniary support
for this newsletter. Vendors and
developers receive this newsletter
free of charge, though contribution
from vendors and user groups is
gratefully accepted Please support
our vendors and service providers
whenever possible
If you have a problem or you have
solved a problem, please share it with
the rest of us. No problem will be
considered unimportant .
' ' ''Publisher ' ■ .
ou can keep T/SNUG alive by
an annual contribution of $12
for one VOLUME made payable to
Abed Kahale S end check to . -
ABED KAHALE
3343 S FLAT ROCK CT
SIERRA VISTA AZ 85850-6874
520 378-3424
I
Back copies are available for
$1.00 each postpaid.
As of August 30, 1998, we have a
balance of $807.32
Article
Contributions
Send in your articles by tape or disk and your
inputs to ; —
DONALD S LAMBERT
1301 KIBLiNGER PL
AUBURN IN 46706-3010
Phone 219 925-1372
By hardcopy, MSDOS or modem (.3-33 .6)
to
Abed Kahale
E-mail: AKahale@compuserve.com
3rtot*tet! lair
To better inform the Sinclair Community,
four' 24-hour a day BBSs are now provided to serve
you. You are encouraged to exchange mail and use
the files sections of these boar ds Bulletins and ads
are a vailable to all
Q-BoxBBS 810 254-9878
Utica, Michigan
SCC Sever Jose Moreno
http "//members tripod com/~helpme/
SOL BBS 520 882-0388
Tucson, Arizona
Club BBS 847 632-5558
Arlington Heights, Illinois
If you know the Internet E-Mail address of a
Sinclair user, but do not have access to Internet,
simply address your E-Mail to GA TOR Sinclair on
the 24-hour Club BBS and include the name and E-
Mail address of the user you wish to reach Then
check the Club BBS from time to time if you expect
a reply .
We encourage you to exchange mail and
contribute to the UPLOAD section. Call
and register using your first, last name and phone
number along with a password you won't forget,
Write It Down! Do not try to do anything else at
this time
When you call-in the next time, you will have
Level 5 security and be able to enjoy full
user privileges. The BBS has smaller sections
called conferences Select "J " for "Join a Confer-
ence". Select "TIMEX" to get into the Sinclair
Section. The mail you then read will only be from
other T/S users. Use extension ART for articles,
ADS for ads and NWS for news when
UPLOADing.
For help, contact the SYSOP, Bob Swoger, by
leaving a message, mail, E-Mail or phone.
CENG! 08@email.mot.com
ZXir QLive Alive!
2
Autumn 1998
Input/Output
Hello Abed,
I just received the V8#2 issue. I am still amazed at all
the info you folks pack into it. I also want to add my email
address to the list: (panderson2@.home com). It's been a
while since I had any of my Timex stuff out, but I enjoy
ZQA tremendously. However, after reading this issue,
there certainly seems to be a lot of diehards out there
keeping TS computers alive.. Sinclairly,
Paul M. A nderson
Abed.
I just read Joan Kealy's letter in the ZQA, and I've got
to say that I agree with her. You really are doing a great job
for the group I don't know wher_ and the time.
Speaking of time (saving a little) you don't need to
reply to this <G>
P.S I agree with you also - 1 enjoyed those programs (the
ones that I have seen) that Joan wrote for the 2068 1 even
tried to get her to write some bagpipe music, but by that
time she was no longer involved with the 2068. Too bad.
Take care.
Dennis Smith
Dear Abed :
We have been trying to bring 2068 telecommunicating
capability "into the third millennium," by updating the
underlying Z80 CODE to SEND files to modern computers.
This effort is proceeding slowly. Another, unrelated
problem causes the "cut off' of connections, while entering
and/or editing messages. We have traced this phenomenon
to a lack of free RAM on the part of the 2068, when
running MaxCom BASIC So, we have reluctantly
introduced memory-saving techniques, using slower
instructions. Well, the upshot is, that the computer does not
operate too much slower, and we want to emphasize a nasty
little problem, which has been mentioned before in passing.
In order to save memory, we ordinarily go through the
code, replacing every occurrence of the numbers 0, 1, and 3
with NOT PI, SGN PI, and INT PI, respective ' But,
suppose the code is JJF 0 < x THEN GOTO 5 and v,.e value
of X is 7. Then, we desire that the instruction take the
branch to line 5, but the program will fall through to the
next line, unless we use a couple of parentheses, as in
IF (NOT PI) < X THEN GOTO 5
Well, a better solution is to replace such a number 0 with
CODE "", as in
IF CODS < X THEN GOTO 5
Then, we get to use "memory-saving code," without any
extra parens!
KeepOnTimex'n
David E. Lassov: Sysop
SOL BBS @ 520-882-0388 (data)
Dear Abed:
I don't recall seeing that anyone has mentioned the
scenic photos of Arizona that appear from time to time in
ZQA! but I, for one, appreciate them. They remind me of
the times 35 - 40 years ago when I took many of the slides
in my own collection from that area.
While looking through my file copy of the listing for
ZXir QLive Alive! 3
the BOOT routine that appeared in the Vol. 7 No. 4 ZQA! I
discovered a typo (mine, not yours) that would halt it with
an error at line 42. The first variable name should be sic,
not sis, so the corrected line would be
42 slceslc-47-39* (slc>57)
My apologies for the frustrations I caused anyone who
couldn't get the routine to work.
Many have expressed concern that Sinclair enthusiasts are
becoming a passing generation. Not to worry, if a note
about Marcel Kiigus in the May-June QL Today is any
indication. It states that he began development of his
excellent QPC emulator program a few years ago when he
was 16.
Near the other end of the age spectrum, an article in
the same issue by Darren Branagh describes one of the
recent inventions by Sir Give. It is advertised as the
world's smallest FM radio It is entirely contained in an ear-
plug shaped to fit into the ear Tuning is done by touching a
tiny scanning button
With best regards,
Bob Hartu ng _
.... When I needed an affordable computer to learn
programming, the ZX-80 kit was there for $99. No
more putting up with TimeShare at work.. Abed.
My guess is that millions of folks were introduced to
"computers" by Sinclair and Timex I wonder what our
computer world would be like .... if Timex had continued
developing and marketing their computer products? Do
you think we might have a world full of "programmers?
Today .... folks read thick books and/or go to seminars to
learn how to use a "given" program on their IBM type
computers (so the person has to adapt to the computer's
programs). We adapted the programs (& computer) to our
individual needs That, to me, was the BIG difference that
Sir Clive Sinclair brought into being. The Editorial in the
current Popular Electronics makes reference to the fact that
many computers in the govt and business areas will have to
be reprogrammed when the year 2000 emerges and, in
that, most of programs are in the Fortran or Cobol language
... it will be necessary to "call" retired programmers (as
very few of the current programmers know those
"obsolete" languages).
If I were one of the "retired" programmer s called I
believe my asking price would be exorbitant but in that
I'm not a "retired" Fortran or Cobol programmer ..... I'll
never have the chance to "gouge" the industries (oh!
Sadness!). Sincerely,
Fred Henn
More NASA Space Images Now Online
NASA's Observatorium's Gallery expands its collection
See new photos of the solar- system, Moon, Earth, and more
at http://observe.iw.nasa.gov/nasa/gallery/image_gallery
/image_gallery html
NASA's Observatorium's Gallery, a collection of the best
in NASA photography and offering full-color,
downloadable imagery, now has an array of new space
photos online.
Autumn 1998
You'll like what you'll see in the Gallery. From pictures of
the universe and all its unique inhabitants to exciting NASA
photography of missions past and present, Gallery gives
web surfers an up-ciose look at Earth and space science.
NASA's Observatorium homepage address at
http://observe.iw.nasa. gov . Contact:
Scott Gillespie
NASA's Observatorium
info@observe iw.nasa.gov
Frank Davis has LarKen blank boards
for Disk Operating Systems. He also has
blank LarKen RAM disk boards,
— ==GAT0R===~
John J. (Jay) Shepard III, wrote:
Denny, Do not count yourself out till we hear from
Jack and what the magicians at Computer Classics did with
his Larken If they turned their magic, do not expect that I
have it till I check what I rcvd, which I haven't And if I
have it, do not expect to rev it just by asking for it, till those
who started this have sorted out all that had been set in
place, which included Frank Davis and Fwd Computing.
When all that is resolved you will maintain your position
behind or beside Jack ;
J. Shepard
Thanks for the email about the Larken. I still haven't
gotten mine back from Computer Classics 1 did receive an
email from Dan a couple weeks ago stating he was just
beginning to work on it. I will keep you posted.
Take care,
Jack Boatw ri ght
Hello Abed,
Well, here it is, the first day of June and I am
sending you a check in the amount of $49.71. I have
shipped the last box to Iowa and Jack Boatwright will
be picking up whatever is left.
I want to thank you, Bob, and the rest of T/SNUG
members who donated the funds to get the inventory
moved. I hope that a lot of it finds new homes with
someone who can make good use of it
s
If I can be of assistance to you or
anyone else, do not hesitate to ask. j
,/v v*wv \/wv \/vw v/v^-v s/vw ww s/vw \/v -y\^^/\,
All of the masters for ant software that I had the
rights to are now with jack Boatwright. I think that he
will be willing to distribute whatever folks need or want
if he has it. Thanks again. Sincerely,
Rod Gowen
Hi Abed & Bob,
I picked up what Rod thinks is the last of the items on
Friday. Not much really, cables and RF boxes mostly. I
did purchase another fellow's TS collection that day too. I
now have quite a lot of TS items, but quite a bit went out
after the list in ZQAi was published. I hope to have an
updated list for you in a month or so.
Take care, Jack
Dear Al,
Here is a letter. I sent to Bob Swoger today,
explaining where I'm at in this project and what kind of
information is necessary to complete it
I'm wondering, if you can't read it and maybe also
have some helpful ideas :
Dear Bob :
I have tried several software patches here, trying to
isolate the difficulty, MaxCom has SENDing files to
modern computers
According to the series of decisions, made by the CODE,
the only thing preventing a normal exit is the receipt of a
"6" in response to a "4" sent at the end of the last block
So, would you review what to expect from current
communications software, at the end of the last block
SENT?
The APPLE people are dragging their feet on this
information, so maybe the Timex people have the answer !
KEEP ON TIMEX ,n
So, Al, what do you think ?
David Lassov
Abed, ~ " ~
I really need help on this !
In Larry's doc on MaxCom, he gives all the control
characters, SENT by MaxCom to the remote caller. The list
is about 30 characters long, and he says MaxCom responds
to A Q, A S, A G, and A \ . . *
Well, it looks, as though he sends out an EOT ( A D)
and waits for an incoming ACK ( A F) . The 04 for the EOT
signals, that no blocks of 128 bytes remain to be sent, and
the 06 for the ACK is used throughout the CODE, to
indicate a successful transmission, (then PRINT a '+' !) He
also PRINTs a upon receipt of a NAK, instead 1
So, it looks, as though MaxCom responds to 06, or A f,
or ACK, and 21, or A u, or NAK
Now, the APPLE uses Proterm communication
software, and it returns an error after the last block is
received. It then hangs, and so does the Timex.
And, the error is "got noise after EOT (1/2688)"
That 1/2688 is interpreted, as follows "1" stands for "one"
error, which was detected at byte #2688, which is always "a
128-byte boundary."
So, everything seems to be working, OK. Just why doesn't
Proterm send an ACK, in response to the final EOT ?
David E. Lassov Sysop, SOL BBS @ 520-882-0388 (data )
520-882-3972 (voice) emanon@azstarnet.com (email)
2590 N. Jordan DR
Tucson AZ 85745-1132
Hello Abed,
Great News!!! I can now READ my own mail
and other printed material !
It has been a long time coming, but I finally had to
mortgage my soul and pay the price to be able to read
my own material.
I am enclosing a photocopy of the spec sheet for
the machine that I now have working for me. At a
price of $3700.00 it was not cheap, but it will be all
mine as soon as I pay the bank off.
I would like to be put back on the mailing list for
ZQA! if at all possible. I can now scan it in and hear it
in a matter of minutes. If I need to send you a
subscription fee please let me know.
I hope that we are all straight on the inventory
that I shipped. I know that Jack Boatwright has been
ZXir QLive Alive!
4
Autumn 1998
shipping a lot of items out to folks who saw the info in
ZQA! as well as on the net. If we are not straight on it,
please let me know
I will reiterate that I am still available if someone
needs help in mmh
any way that H fiS _ fS ,~ _
am capable of ^^^^^^^'^^^^^^
giving it.
Thanks
again for all of ?J*J
the help and SLs
your support m
the past.
Thanks
also to all those
who gave of
their time and
money to get the TS inventory moved and distributed.
Pass them along. Sincerely,
Rod Gowen
I'm looking for a working one, pref. with printer +
modem, but I don't think I can be very choosy at this point.
;) If you or any of your member's group (TSNUG) have
any they're willing to part with, please let me know, or let
them know 7 I'm looking to buy Thanks!
Louis Florit expressweb.com<
florit@grep unixville. com
/ will put an ad in the next newsletter. If you like,
send me your snail mail address for those who don't
use email. ^ v Q 1
Thanks Abed! My snail mail is ZX-51
Louis Florit
544.5 SW 150 Place
Miami, FL 33185
My pager number is (305)478-3278
From: Alvin Albiecht <aralbrec@concentric.net>
Newsgroups: comp.sys. Sinclair Date. Wednesday, July 01,
1998 Subject: Re: Timex /Sinclair Users groups and
suppliers
Michael Owazany wrote; > Anyone know of any
Timex Users groups in the states these days. Or any one
who still sells the machines and software
Yes. Groups: TSNUG: (Timex Sinclair North America User
Group) Email: AKahale /at/ Compuserve <dot> com LIST
(Long Island Sinclar Timex Group) Email bmalloy <at> idt
(dot) net A few others as well You can find the addresses
in the TSNUG newsletter.
Vendors: FWD Computing Email: fdavis !at! iquest ?dot?
net. Also ask at TSNUG as the inventory of another
vendor, RMG, has been transferred to them Alvin
Josh Payne
Joshpayne@bigfoot. com
Hello Abed,
I still have a lot of stuff (I bought another collection a
couple weeks ago from someone Rod knew).
I still haven't gotten my Larken back from Dan Elliott.
Sheesh! Oh well, in the latest bunch of stuff I got an Oliger
with LKDOS, 2 more 2068s, a QL, a 1000 that is really
loaded and a whole bunch of odds and ends.
I've been selling the extra stuff from my personal
collection as well as sending the RMG items for shipping
costs. Not getting rich, but having a lot of fun and meeting
new people.
I hope to have you a revised list of the RMG items
before the next issue of ZQA!
Jack Boatwright
Fife in the Hole
IIP 500/C printer by Robert Swoger
Recently my wife's HP 500C printer started to smell bad
and as it was in a low light area of the room, a small flame
was visible in the right hand side of the paper tray Shortly
after that moment, the printer went 'lights out'
I opened the printer to find that a small drop of ink
had fallen onto the printer logic board and caused a small
fire just under the print cartridge parking area. It burned up
two chip capacitors as well as the PC board under them
I mentioned the problem at the Glenside Color
Computer Club meeting and was surprised that a
few of the \ members present
knew of the ^ \ ^ — -» problem first hand
two of llllllllil '"V them had
the same
had to buy
(not HPs).
told me
as
experienced
problem and
new printers
I wish they had
sooner!
I found that HP * offers no help in providing
schematics or technical support for their products. 1 shall
probably stay away from them next time as they told me to
forget about trying to fix it and buy a new printer.
To save the HP printer that you might have, open your
printer and place a plastic or cardboard ink shield over the
PC board just under the area where the print cartridge
travels, especially under the print cartridge parking area
This area is readily seen by looking for the two banks of
four diodes in the right top corner of the PC board
Fix it BEFORE it happens to you and - GOOD
LUCK! — ==GATOR== —
Albrecht, Alvin
aralbrec@concentric. net
Anderson, Paul
panderson2@home. com
Anson, Gerald
jerrya@aztec.asu.edu
Barker Robin
Robin@di-ren. demon, co.uk
Bennett. Dave
dbennett@.epix. net
Boatwright, Jack
jboatno4@outlawnet. com
Boehm, Al
boehm@ziplink.net
Boehm, Bill
boehm@plh.af.mil
C. A. T. S.
mf0002@epfl2.epflbalto.org
Cable, Bill
bcable@triton. coat, com
Chambers, George
gfchamb@pathcom. com
Collins, Bill
bcollins@home.ifx.net
Cottrell, Les
jacottre@gte.net
Cruz-Figueroa, Jaime
cruzfiguer@aol.com
Dansby, Andrew
adansby@atlantic.net
Davis, Frank
fdavis@iquest.net
England, William
wengland@iname.com
ZXir QLive Alive!
Autumn 1998
Fens, Al
alfeng@juno . com
Florit, Louis
florit@grep.unixville. com
Fink, Mike
domino . cubes@excelsior . net
Franke, John
j.m.franke(
^larc.nasa.gov
Ganger, Gary
gangerg@dma. org
Gillespie, Doug
aa43 l@cleveland.freenet.edu
Harbit, Ken
krh03 @csufresno . edu
Henderlight, Mike
mikehend(a),microsoft. com
' — j
Henn, Fred
oranur@ju
no.com
Hunkins, James
j dhunki@ibm. net
Imrjellizerri, John
jimpellizerri@compuserve.com
Jaap, Matthias
Matthias Jaap@hhs.hh.schule.de
Jonas, Mike
mjonas@bbn.com
Jones, Terry
tjones@iname. com
Kaczor, Jon
75363. 1 127@compuserve.com
Kahale, Abed
akahale@compuserve. com
Kealy, Harriet Joan
hjkealy@ms 1 .hilconet.com
Kinssley, Ed
elk4@aol. com
Konm, Urs
urs koenis^aarodata ch
KurtK7
kurtk7@aol . com
Kwitkowski, Phillip
kwit47@ao 1 . com
Lancaster, Garry
dharkhisfS)derDhi com
Ik*. I lLlll ^M^V# Vi.^/ X. 1. 1 , V* * Jill
Lassov, David
emanon@azstarnet . com
Lebowitz, Dave
dkl@dpliv.com
Lessenberry, Gary
glessenb@usr.com
Liebert-Adelt, Peter
p.liebert@t-online.de
Malloy, Bob
74776.1 161@compuserve.com
MeKelvey, William
mckelveyw@delphi.com
Merz, Jochen
jochenmerz@j-m-s.com
Miller, Seymour
sey mil@delphi . com
Muth, Bob
bobkeeperl@aol.com
Norton, Gary
gnorton@world.std.com
Parrish, Gil
1 07765 .1161 @compuserve. com
Pashtoon, Nazir
napware@
juno.com
Pazmino, John
john.pazmino@moondog. com
Perry, Russ Jr
slapdash@enteract. com
Rigter, Wilf
rigter@cafe.net
Rish John
7460 1.153 5@compuserve. com
Shepard, Jay
j shepard@netins. net
Simon, Thomas
73177.333
^Compuserve, com
Skapinski, Tom
tskapins@ :
uno.com
Smith, Dennis
denny.smit
h@juno.com
Swenson, Tim
swensontc(
^geocities.com
Swenson, Tim
swensont@sirclive.csd.sgi . com
Swentko, Wally
wswentko@maroon.tc.umn.edu
Swoger, Robert
ceng 1 08@email.mot. com
Taylor, Jeff
jetaylor@spar.ca
Thoresen, JefF
74200.257@compuseive.com
Walterman, Don
walterm@ix. netcom. com
Washington, Barry
mf0002@epfl2.epflbalto.org
B
rap WjW
cn
1 p Gil Parrish
Perhaps someone can help me with identification of a
TV/monitor interface that appears to be ZX/TS related.. The
story goes that I was in a thrift store and found a PC8300.
If you don't know, a PC8300 is a Hong Kong "clone" of a
ZX-81 or TS1000, with many similarities (like an identical
expansion edge card), but also with some different and
additional features (I did a piece on writing music for one
in the Summer '95 issue of ZXir QLive Alive!). Anyway,
sometime later I was in a different part of the same store
and ran across the video interface in question, so that
interface may or may not have anything to do with the
PC8300.
It has a non-shiny creme plastic case (the PC8300 has
a shiny creme case) with four diagonal stripes on the front,
being (top to bottom) red, blue, yellow and green. (The
PC8300 is marked with green of about the same shade, but
none of the other colors ) It has a ZX/TS-style expansion
connector with passthrough edge card, and a short (maybe 6
to 7 inch) hard-wired cable on the right side (as you would
view it from the computer keyboard) with an RCA plug at
the end. On the left side, it has two RCA jacks, labeled
"TV" and "Monitor", and (if you open the case) the TV one
is connected to an RF modulator box not unlike what you
find on a ZX/TS motherboard. There is no marking on the
outside of the case, and about the only marking on the
board inside is "LAMBDA".
Now, my first guess was that this added a monitor port
to the PC8.300 by attaching to the TV output. But then I
remembered, the PC8300 already HAS a monitor port, as
well as a TV port (Channel 3). I then thought maybe it was
intended to add a monitor port to the ZX/TS. But the
expansion edge card on a ZX/TS is (as you face the
keyboard) to the far right, so that right-hand cable on the
interface couldn't attach to anything (The TS2068, by the
way, also has its expansion edge card at the far right, and
also already has both a TV and a monitor port While the
TS2068 does have three short stripes on its primarily-silver
case in the colors of red, green and blue, it has nothing in
creme or yellow ) The PC8300 has its expansion edge card
in the middle, with the monitor port to the right and the TV
port to the left, so the interface could fit that edge card and
have its RCA plug in the monitor port. But again, why?
The PC8300 already has a TV and monitor port.
Despite the lack of sense, I tried attaching the
interface to the expansion and monitor ports of the PC8300.
My monitor (hooked to the monitor output jack of the
interface with an RCA-to-RCA cable) showed something
that might have been a normal picture, only with vertical
and/or horizontal hold totally misadjusted. No amount of
adjustment brought the picture in. On the TV, I got nothing
until I hit UHF channel 35, and then I got the same kind of
twisted, unadjustable picture I got on the monitor.
I can speculate a lot here The device could be some
kind of faux-color adapter (hence the stripes), but this
particular interface is defective. Or maybe it was intended
for the European Spectrum or other r elated model (how
would I know, when I've never even seen a Spectrum in
person?) and won't work on North American systems. Or
possibly it was intended to modify the PC8300 to European
(PAL or SECAM) use Or perhaps I'm simply missing the
point as to its purpose or usage on the PC8300 Anyway, if
someone knows, drop me an e-mail at
107765.1 161@compuserve.com
and take me out of my puzzlement.
My wild guess is thai it was made for viewing the
Spectrum on US video monitors. Editor
ZXir QLive Alive!
6
Autumn 1998
Donald S. Lambert
[hat a summer! Hot or hotter than usual and then a
Wry spell for a while and then too much rain for
some areas. Living in Auburn, IN gives us some protection
from the storms since we are the right distance and
direction fr om Lake Michigan to be in the area too far from
the storms that the lake generate and too near from the lake
for the other storms to really affect us with the extreme rain
(or snow) fall that others get. And since all our power
comes in from other areas we do get an occasional power
losses mostly caused by excessive loads during the really
hot weather That really affects those that have a sump
pump . We don't have a basement so no worry about that,
ijtffasakos my wife was watching TV one day and she
2'*** tried to change from her soap to QVC (a shopping
station on cable) by way of the FLASH button and it didn't
change stations. She tried the up and Down button and
while the screen flashed as it did for the FLASH button it
didn't change stations. So of course I was called to the
rescue and I checked the other TV and it worked properly
so I made an immediate conclusion that the AAA batteries
in the remote were weak. However ! with the original
batteries it would get the proper station if you punched in
the station number I tried another set of batteries and still
the same and I tested the batteries and still good so now
what? Either the TV or the remote was bad. I took the
remote and went to the local store where we bought the TV
and the remote tested good (it put out an infrared beam) and
a set of the same make (Zenith) was on in the display so I
found that remote was working for sure.
'Tir'he service man suggested that maybe the power outage
^fcl/had done it Why wouldn't it show up right after the
outage? So back home I read the manual and did a from
scratch start up. Which was to have the TV find out which
channels had a program While I was at it I reset the clock
that showed on the screen when you changed stations
After that the remote operated correctly Nowhere in the
manual does it mention what to do in case of a power down
situation. In my eyes that TV had a case of loss of short
time memory or a case of Alzheimer's disease. What
connection to the T/S computers, Just pointing out there is
so much that isn't manuals covered in the manuals
Che May issue of NUTS and VOLTS magazine in Tech
Forumn department of the magazine was the request
for informatiom. I have an old Z88 made in Scotland that
works. It has new AA batteries "How do I connect it to my
IBM 486 or my PowerMac 7200?, and with what cables in
order to download notes of ASCII type. Do I need software
and where can I get it? David McGuire." I sent in
information about the cables and software that Frank Davis
had for sale and NUTS and VOLTS magazine printed my
reply in the June issue. They stated that the first reply
printed in the answer column of that department would get
a check of $25. My wife laughed "oh yeah!" The check
arrived on August 15th. Now what will I buy with it?
[hen I checked the price of dishwashers at Sears I
Wrifted over to the computer section TV/Internet
deal. A poor man's way of going on line This one had a
printer port and a hard drive but no floppy drive Complete
with printers keyboard and interface it ran about $400 new
and only required to pay the $20 monthly fee to go on line
I was thinking of hooking one up to my AMDEK COLOR-I
monitor of which I have two. But then I remembered that I
could probably buy an IBM compatible used computer for
less than that and have the ability to do so much more But
then I would have to relearn how to use a computer And 1
still have the Z88 to Conquer. I have lived this long without
being on line so I can live some more
I do have a Z88 and a modem for the Z88 so I could go that
route to go on line. BUT! just how does one do it?
Can someone give me a step by step
guide as to how to do it?
Txternal battery case for the Z88 — I wanted to have a
'way to keep a Z88 alive for extended periods of time
and the internal AA batteries don't last long By that I mean
if the Z88 is in a hanging file folder for half a year at a time.
I could use alkaline batteries but then they do expire given
enough time. I thought of rechargeable batteries the first
choice is NIC AD BUT! the NIC AD have a tendency to
discharge while sitting on the shelf The literature states that
a NIC AD will self discharge in about a month So they are
out But I have had good results with RAYOVAC
RENEWALS in the three quartz clocks we have. They each
use one AA battery and I swap them out and recharge them
periodically and have for several years.
.o I collected the necessary parts and the ! D' sized
batteries I managed to find the batteries on sale so that
helped so were the coupons that I redeemed to even get
more discount I have 6 batteries in series to power the Z88.
O K. I know that the total theoretical voltage of 6 batteries
is 9.9 volts. So I put seven 1N4007 diodes (why 1N4007
diodes that was what was in the diode bulk package at
Radio Shack) in series with the power and have a DIP
switch acr oss each so that I can short out the diode if want a
higher voltage I also found out that with no load on the
circuit that I get a higher voltage than what I expected I did
not charge the batteries before I tested the battery box that
built. The batteries in series give 9 42 volts. I tested the
computer in the sleep mode (turned off) and with it
powered up I used a digital multimeter. The following
No Load 6.S4
No Load 7.28
No Load 7.29
Sleep 3 54
Sleep 5 82
Sleep 5.95
Z88 ON
Z88 ON 3.98
Z88 ON 3.9.5
Doesn't Power Up
Gives BAT low
Gives BAT low
No Load 7.82
No Load 7.97
No Load 8.31
Sleep 634
Sleep 7.08
Sleep 7.56
Z88 ON 4 87
Z88 ON 5.63
Z88 ON 6 30
Gives BAT low
Gives BAT low
Full operation
{^recording to some literature that I received from
iCiRAYOVAC the RENEWAL batteries give more
recharge cycles if they aren't discharged too deeply One
place mentions that they shouldn't be discharged below 13
volts or a total of (6 X 1.3) 7.8 volts. I will try to aim for a
total of 8.4 or 14 per battery to be sure. Even so they
should give a long life compared to AA batteries. 0/0
ZXir QLive Alive!
7
Autumn 1998
QL Hacker's Journal
#2S July 1398
The QL Hacker's Journal (QHJ) is published by Tim
Swenson as a service to the QL Community The QHJ is
freelv distributable. Past issues are available on disk, via e-
mail, or via the Anon-FTP server, garbo.uwasa.fi The QHJ
is always on the look out for article submissions.
QL Hacker's Journal
c/o Tim Swenson
24.55 Medallion Dr.
Union City, CA 94587
swensontc@geocities. com
http://www geocities com/SilconValley/Pines/5865/
Note New Mailing Address
Editors' Forum
have not received much feedback on the QLiberator
Source Book idea I mentioned in the last issue, and I
have received basically no "helpful hints" So, my plan is
to write what I can, put it out on the Net, and see what
feedback comes from it If I make any mistakes, I'm sure
there are many willing to point out my failings .-).
Sometimes the best way to get an answer to a question is to
give a wrong answer, then many will pop up to give the real
answer. I'll probably put in questions that I have in the
hope that they too will get answered.
Apart of the material going into the Source Book is
coming from stuff I'm writing for this newsletter. I
have taken the article on adding Config Blocks to QLib
program and expanded it quite a bit. A couple of articles
from this issue will also go in. I also plan to have sections
that touch on the various SuperBasic extensions and
programming aids available to the SuperBasic
programmers.
In other news, besides having past issues of the QHJ
available on my web page, I've added a number of
articles that I've written for other newsletters. Check the
link from the main page
Structured SuperBasic 2.6
Structured SuperBasic is a utility that has been printed a
couple of times in this newsletter. I have recently
dusted the program off and completed a new version. SSB
2.6 has ail of the functionality of SSB 2.5, but I have added
a lot of error checking, fixed a few bugs, added Config
Block support, Command Line support. Environment
Variable support, and compiled it with QLiberator. The
manual has been expanded from 5 pages to 16 pages. The
whole package has been zipped and should be available
your local QL BBS and the Internet. It can be downloaded
off my web page at http://www.geocities.com/Silicon
Valley/Pines/5865/.
For those that don't remember what SSB is, it is a filter
program that takes SuperBasic code, written in the form
for SSB and converts it to full SuperBasic code. SSB
allows for no line numbers, blank lines between code
segments, conditional compilation, Include files, and other
features. SSB allows for more readable and maintainable
code. Download the package, unzip it, and give it a try.
Revision Control System (RCS)
hether it's source code or system configuration files,
it's nice to be able to keep track of changes made to
files over time The Revision Control System is a
collection of programs that keep track of different versions
(revisions) of text files. A special file is created by RCS
that contains information about the changes in a file and
allow the user to get back to any revision of the file .
RCS was designed primarily for programmers to keep track
of what changes were made to various source files. It was
derived from an earlier Source Code Control System
(SCCS) and was first developed for the UNIX operating
system.
Since RCS came from a UNIX background, it
understands the concepts of different users accessing
the same files and allows "checking out" files and locking
them from being changed by other users. RCS can be used
by a number of programmers all working on the same code
It keeps track of who has what file "checked out" and who
makes what changes.
Jfk Ithough most QL programmers program by
#%themselves, RCS can help the QL programmer bring a
form of discipline to their programming This is especially
useful for what can be called "full production" programs,
commercial or Freeware. Given the long life of QL
programs (I'm still using programs written more than 10
years ago), RCS can keep track of what changes were made
from revision to revision and why A programmer can keep
make a rule that each RCS revision be a bug fix and the
reasons for the fix can be logged as part of the revision
history.
Enough blathering on, now to jump right into what RCS is
and how it works.
Original File - This is the text or source code file that
you want to keep track of It can be any text file.
Revision File - This is a single file that contains the
original text/source file and all of the revision history. It
has the same name as the original file except that a ',v' is
appended to the end. if the original file is test_c', then the
revision file is called 'test_c,v' A revision file keeps track
of only one original test/source file If you have 3 source
code files that make up a single executable, then RCS will
have three revision fills.
Check-In - All revisions to a file are put into the
revision file by checking them in The program 'ci' is used
to do this, 'ci' is used to either create a new revision file or
to check-in a new revision into an existing revision file.
Once a file has been checked into the revision file, it is
deleted.
Check-Out - When you want to edit a text/source file
that has been checked in to the revision file, you use 'co'
(check-out) to extract the text/source file from the revision
file.
The whole process of using RCS is basically checking-in
and checking-out the same file. RCS is not aware of
time, so there is no need to check-in a text file when you
have finished a programming session. You really only need
ZXir QLive Alive!
8
Autumn 1998
to check-in a file when you have made all of the edits you
need. If you are fixing a bug in a program, you would only
check-in the file when you have fixed it. No need to keep
track of working copies of the tiles.
To show you how RCS is used, I've written a short
Structured SuperBasic program.
OPEN #3, con lOOxlOOalOOxlOO
CLS #3
INPUT "Enter The Name of a File
: "; file$
0PEN_IN #4, f ile$
REPeat loop
INPUT #4,in$
IF EOF (#4) THEN EXIT loop
PRINT #3,in$
END REPeat loop
CLOSE #4
CLOSE #3
I stored this program in the file 'readfile_ssb' I then
checked it in to RCS using the following command;
exec ci; "readfile ssb"
'ci' then asks me for my initials. Since the QL does
not have the concept of multiple users (and therefore user-
names), a persons initials are used to keep track of who
has checked out a file and who has made what changes to
that file 'ci' then asks for a Description The Description
is where the "why" of the file change is kept track of. If
you are using RCS to keep track of bug fixes for a
program, the Description section would be used to mention
the bug, what caused it, and how it was fixed I do not
believe there is a limit on how long the description can be.
The Description is ended by a line with just a period on it.
'readfile__ssb' is now checked-in to the RCS revision tile
and is deleted.
ow to get the file back to edit it, I ran the following
command:
exec co;"-l readfile_ssb"
I need to tell 'co' what file I want, but I also have to
tell 'co' that I want to edit the file If I ran 'co' without the
option, 'readfile ssb' would have been created, but it
would not have been "checked-out" from the revision file,
and when I went to check it in, RCS would not have
allowed it. Under UNIX, 'co' would create a 'read-only'
copy of the file, 'co' asked for my initials.
Since the same person who checks out a file is the
only person the can check in a file, be sure to remember
what initials you used.
! readf!le_ssb' is now extracted from the RCS file
and the revision file is changed to show that the file is
checked out.
Once I am done editing the file, I can then check in
the file using 'ci' Again I am asked for my initials. The
file is now checked back into the revision file and deleted.
If you copied the file before checking it back in and you
have edited this file, you can not incorporate those changes
into the revision file since the file is 'officially' checked in
and can not be edited.
CS uses revision numbers to keep track of the
different times a file is checked-in The first revision
is 1 1, then 1.2, then 1.3 and so on. Let's say that I have
edited my file 4 times, I'm now at revision 1 5 and want to
recall revision 1.3. I would run the following command;
exec co,"-r 13 readfile_ssb"
'co' would then dig though the revision history and
generate version 1.3 of 'readfile_ssb\
■"ICS comes with more than just the 'ci' and 'co'
Smprograms. 'rcsdiff is used to compare a working
"checked-out" file with the version still in the revision file.
Ylog' is used to view the revision file.
Below is the output of 'rlog' from my example session:
RCS file, readfile _ssb,v
Working file: readfile_ssb
head: 1.2
branch:
locks' strict
access list:
symbolic names
comment leader: "# "
keyword substitution: kv
total revisions: 2, selected revisions: 2
description;
Creation of RCS Archive
revision 1.2 date- 1998/06/11 20:41:01; author; tcs, state:
Exp; lines: +2 ~2
This is a second version of this program.
revision 1.1 date: 1998/06/11 20:19:34, author: tcs; state:
Exp, Initial revision
RCS is a lot more complicated that I've mentioned here. It,
and SCCS, is fully documented in the book "Applying
RCS and SCCS" by Bolinger & Bronson, published by
O'Reilly & Associates RCS for the QL is available from
most Freeware sources The QL RCS distribution does
not come with the 'diff program which it requires. 'difF
is available as part of the C68 distribution.
RCS can not be used with regular SuperBasic
programming, as RCS would see any new line
numbers as a change in the file If you loaded a file into
SuperBasic, did only a line renumber, saved it, and then
check it back into RCS, RCS would any line with new line
number as having changed. RCS works well with
Structured SuperBasic as it has no line numbers. It also
works well with C, Forth, Pascal, etc.
Environment Variables
The concept of Environment Variables comes from the
Unix world They are used slightly in MS-DOS, but
not at all to the same extent as UNIX. For the QDOS
world, the file ENVJBIN provides a number of extensions
that allow the use of Environment Variables. Essentially an
environment variable is a variable that can be "seen" by
executable programs. In SuperBasic we can set up all
kinds of variables, but if we execute a program from
SuperBasic, these programs can not "see" these variables
and get data from them.
The puipose of environment variables is to
change the configuration of a program. They function
like Config Blocks, but don't require running a program to
make the change Let's take a quick look at how we can
change the behavior of programs There are five different
ways of doing this:
1) User Intervention. This is where the user uses a
menu or answers quer ies from the program.
2) Config Blocks. This feature is pretty unique to
ZXir QLive Alive!
9
Autumn 1998
QDOS, but it allows the user to change default options
without having to know how to edit a binary file.
3) Configuration File. This is a separate file that the
program reads to determine how to set defaults and run.
4) Command line Arguments. Instead of the program
querying the user for infor mation, the user types it in when
they execute the program.
5) Environment Variables. The user sets a variable that
is then read by the program and changes its default settings.
Each of the options have their own place and their own
benefits and faults. Some are more permanent, like
Config Blocks and Config files, while some are very
short lived, like User Intervention and Command line
Arguments. Environment Variables are in between as they
can be set in a BOOT program, but they can be changed by
just typing in a new command
The ENVJBIN file comes with 4 extensions. They are:
SETENV - Defines an environment variable.
ENV LIST - Lists all defined environment variables.
ENVJDEL - Deletes an environment variable.
GETENVS - Gets the value of an environment variable
The two key commands are SETENV and GETENVS.
SETENV is used like this.
SETENV "VARIABLE-value"
SETENV takes a string argument of the type
"XXXXX=YYYYY M where XXXXX and YYYYY are
two strings separated by an equal sign. Any space before
the equal sign is treated as a part of XXXXX and any space
after the equal sign is treated as a part of YYYYY. The
case of each string is important as "VARIABLE" is
different from "variable". By convention, upper case is
used for variables .
The SETENV is done either in a BOOT or setup
program or by the user The command for an
executable to get the contents of an environment variable
is GETENVS. The command is used like this:
a$ = GETENV$(" VARIABLE")
In this case a$ will be assigned the value of "value".
This comes from our previous SETENV'' command above.
If the Environment Variable "VARIABLE" is not set (does
not exist) then the GETENVS would return a Null string (
Now I did say that executables use GETENVS and
not SuperBasic programs. Since variables are
already used in SuperBasic, we would not gain much in
using environment variables. There the commands are use
is in compiled SuperBasic programs, which are
executables.
I see the purpose of using Environment Variables as
adding to the flexibility of programs that use Config
Blocks. Both Config Blocks and Environment Variables
are really designed to change default program settings
User Intervention and Command Line Arguments are
designed to tell the program what the data is. Using
environment variables allows the user the ability of making
a temporary change to the default options of a program,
without having to go through the trouble of using "config"
Environment variables would be used to change a setting
for a single session and that's it.
Getting Config Blocks and Environment Variables to
work together is not difficult. The program would
first get it's default settings from the Config Block. It
would then check to see if there are any Environment
Variables set. If there are, then the Environment Variable
settings would override the Config Block settings.
Working Directory
As we all know, QDOS did not come with the concept of
directories and subdirectories. A number of extensions
to QDOS are available to help create the working concepts
of directories When using ED drives, I found the Path
(PTH) extensions useful because they would search a list
of subdirectories looking for a particular executable
Now, I've never used a QL with a hard disk, so I'm
not too experienced with using the tools for handling
directories, plus my copies of some of the good articles
dealing with this subject are not available to me. So, I've
been doing some thinking on the matter, especially since I
have been writing a Freeware program and I want to
make it as versatile as possible.
The one issue that I've been pondering over is telling a
program where there data file are at This is
called a Working Directory. It is a directory where the
data files are at and any newly created files will also go
I know that DATA USE is designed for this purpose,
but I do not want to type in a new DATA USE before each
program I execute I could set up a short little
SuperBasic program to set up everything, but I want to
EXEC a program not LRUN it Of course, using a front
end like QASCADE, this point is mute, since the user is
removed from the details of executing the program. With
PTH setup, 1 don't need to set PROG USE, because
PTH_ finds the executable 1 was looking a way of having
the executable know where the Working Directory is
What I came up with is this. Have an item in the
Config Block for Working Directory. The contents
would be something like this, "WIN 1 PROG DATA "
This string would be appended to the front of each file
name used in the program. This does mean that the user
would not be able to type in a new device name, such as
H FLP 1 FILEEXT" . Initially, the Config Block entry for
Working Directory would be the null string (empty), so
that a user would' enter "FLP1 FILE EXT" Once the
user has created a working environment, the Config
Block can be changed to what the user wants.
if this feature is linked to Environment Variables, it
would become more powerful By setting an
Environment Variable for the program, the user could
temporarily override the Config Block and change the
Working Directory. If the Config Block was changed to
a Working Directory and the user needed to use the
floppy for a few times, the user would set the
Environment Variable to "fipl _" or to the null string ("")
and then set DATAJJSE to lpl_ If they did not want
to change the default Config Block, a BOOT program
could set the Environment Variable and it would be active
during the whole computing session. If different programs
used different Environment Variable names for their
Working Directory, then all Working Dir ectories could be
set up in the BOOT program Something that could
not be accomplished with just DATA_USE
Since my experience in this area is kind of light, the
more experienced QLers may want to take this all with
a grain of salt I prefer to think of it as a way that I would
prefer to organize things and others may have a different
ZXir QLive Alive!
10
Autumn 1998
way.
The reason I am bringing up this idea is for
programmers to consider the concept and add it to
their programs. The option is not very difficult to
implement, but it would a nice feature to the program
The whole feature would take up no more than 10-20 extra
lines of code to a program. By setting the default value of
Working Directory to nothing, the feature is essentially
turned off and it does not impede the user that does not
want use a Working Directory
Case Statement Implementation
When I recently was working on S SB 2.6, 1 was using
a SuperBasic implementation of a CASE structure
for the core of the program The deeper the structure got,
the harder it was to read and understand. I starting
thinking of using another way of implementing a CASE
structure.
For those that don't know what a CASE structure or
statement is, it is essentially the same structure as a
SuperBasic SELECT ON statement, but it is not limited to
numbers. Plus the general idea of a CASE structure is to
have a number of possible logic statements with an action
for all cases that do not fit one of the logic statements In
a generalized CASE structure not all of the comparisons
must be based on the same data (string, number, etc), but
can vary.
Traditionally, a way of creating the CASE structure is
to have a number of nested IF.. THEN ELSE
statements, with the final ELSE handling the default value.
An example would be something like this: you are reading
in text from a file. You want to handle the following
cases: a line starts with a ##, or a line starts with a **, a
line starts with a period (.). If none of these cases, then
the line is passed to the output file
Using nested IF THEN. .ELSE statements the pseudo
code would look something like this:
IF line starts with ## THEN
ELSE
IF line starts with ** THEN
ELSE
IF line starts with a period THEN
ELSE
pass to output file
END IF
END IF
END IF
If you start having more than just a hand full of possible
cases, the structure can get long and difficult to read.
SuperBasic allows the use of NEXT in conjunction
with a REPEAT statement. This means that when the
NEXT is reached, the rest of the REPEAT loop is skipped
and the processing goes onto the next interaction of the
REPEAT loop. Using NEXT in this manner allows for the
creation of a different implementation of a CASE
structure. Below is an example of the two implementations
listed side-by-side.
REPeat loop REPeat loop
IF THEN IF THEN
ELSE
IF.... THEN
NEXT loop
END IF
IF.. THEN
ELSE
IF .... THEN NEXT loop
END IF
ELSE IF ... THEN
default
END IF NEXT loop
END IF END IF
END IF default
END REPeat loop END REPeat loop
Using the REPEAT .NEXT END version may not
seem as clean as the "classical" IF. THEN.. ELSE
structure, but I think it is cleaner when it come to reading
and debugging What I am looking for from readers is to
ponder over any downsides from using the
REPEAT. NEXT structure I can't think of any logical
problems with using this structure over the classical one. If
you know of any, please send me a note. I'll add the
productive comments in the next issue.
Creating Loadable Extensions Using QLIB
#%ne of the things that has always amazed me about the
%&QL was the ability to load a binary file and have a
bunch of new keyboards available in SuperBasic In most
computers that had Basic built in, the language was static
and had no way to extend itself. Other languages (like C,
Fortran, or Pascal) used libraries of functions and
procedures to extend the capability of the library.
The first major LOADABLE extenuation to the QL was
ToolKit. From then on the term toolkit has been used in
reference to LOADABLE extensions. Popular toolkits are
ToolKitll (TKII), DIY ToolKit, and DJToolKit.
I knew that the first of these toolkits were written in
Assembly, but I did not know that they could be created by
QLiberator It seems that QDOS executables and
extensions are real close in format and when compiled
right, they can be interchangeable. This means that an
executable can also be loaded as an extension. To figure
out how to create a toolkit, I grabbed a simple
function, QLiberator, and gave it a try. The function is
included below:
10 REMark $$ external
100 DEFine FuNction upper$(up$)
110 LOCal x, temp
120 FOR x = 1 TO LEN(up$)
130 temp = CODE (up$ (x) )
140 IF temp > 96 AND temp < 123 THEN
up $ ( x } =CHR$ ( t emp- 3 2 )
150 NEXT x
160 RETurn up$
17 0 END DEFine
The function takes any string and converts it to all
upper case letters, The $$exteraal is a compiler
directive to QLiberator that tells it that the next function
or procedure needs to be available outside of the
executable. For each procedure or function that you
want to turn into an extension, you would have to put the
$$exteraal directive in front of it If I was to put an
additional line in the program,
180 PRINT upper$ ( "This is a test")
then when I executed the program, line 180 would be
executed. If I LRESPRed the program, the keyword
upper$ would be made available.
ZXir QLive Alive!
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When compiling the program it is a good idea to turn
WINDS off, since the extension will have no
channels open. Otherwise 3 channels will be opened for
it, wasting them To lower the size of the binary file,
turning off NAMES and LINES might be a good idea.
Note that the case of the function or procedure will be
maintained in the extension. In my example, the name
that will show up when entering EXTRAS is "upperS" (all
lower case). If I defined the function a UPPERS, then
"UPPERS" would show up in the EXTRAS command. By
convention, extensions should be done in all upper case.
1 f you will be running the extension on a system that
1 already has the QLib runtimes loaded, then compile
the program without runtimes. If you don't know if the
QLib runtimes will be available, compile it with the
runtimes included. It is a good idea to compile both ways
and let the user decide which one they need. The example
program when compiled without the QLib runtimes was
594 bytes. With the QLib runtimes it was 11,146 bytes.
The runtimes take up a fair bit of space.
If you load an extension that does not have the QLib
runtimes on a system where the QLib runtimes are not
loaded, you will not get an error message when you
LRESPR the extension. When you call the extension is
when the error will occur The exact error message is:
Error "Runtimes Missing !"
Once you have compiled an extension, all that is
needed is to LREPSR it and test it out. Remember
that you can't LRESPR while any jobs, other than Job 0
(SuperBasic), is running.
ZipaDee Bas 1.105
by Al Feng
Several years ago, Anthony Trice was kind enough to
send me a copy of the ZIP utility which was originally
ported to QDOS by Erik Slagter & Kai Uwe Rommel.
Unfortunately, need is a strong motivator, and it wasn't until
this Summer that I finally sat down to figure out how to
implement the utility in its QDOS incarnation ZuipaDee
(1 . 105) is the long over due front end for the ZIP utility that
is meant to complement the earlier DooDah bas front end
for UNZIP,,
While more than one compression algorithm exists,
the use of the earlier 'LZ77' algorithm allows a QDOS
ZIPped file to be universally expanded by almost all
versions of UNZIP , The most recent port of ZIP that I have
(v3.0) was executed by Marco Holmer.
Using Zip
There are many reasons for ZIPping a file - the two
reasons that come to mind are for archiving (storage) and
transmission (distribution) Of cour se, the file or program
cannot be used until it has been UNZlPped back to its
natural form.
ZIPping a file results in a new, smaller file which is
suffixed with '_zip' For example, the TurboQuill
version of Quill (60614 bytes) would become
Quillzip (39833 bytes). The command line syntax for
using the QDOS version of ZIP is:
EXEC _W win! ZIP; "zipname winlfileone"
where 'win 1 ' is where the ZIP program is located (the
location is optional), 'zipname' is the name that you want
for the ZIPped file, and 'winl fileone' is the location and
actual name of the file you want to ZIP
You should note that, as with UNZIP, the command and
argument(s) are separated by a semi-colon, and, the
arguments are enclosed within quote marks.
It has been said that sometimes a little knowledge is a
dangerous thing; and, this was the case with my attempts to
implement ZIP and write the ZipaDee_bas program,
Being familiar with the DOS versions of the ZIP program I
observed that the QDOS version lacked the '-a' switch for
amending existing ZIP files.
This seemed like a great omission that would require
including all the filenames to be incorporated into a ZIP
file at the time of the creation of the ZIP file The
command line syntax would be:
EXEC_W win l._Z IP; " z ipnarae
winl_f ileone flp2_filetwo"
where 'flp2_filetwo' might be the device and location of the
second file, and so on.
Subsequent to writing the current version of the program I
belatedly ascertained that the '-a' switch has been renamed '-
u' (i.e., update), and, the command line syntax is:
EXEC_W winl_ZIP;"-u zipname winl_fileone"
My ignorance prevented the program from resulting in a
more cumbersome implementation for the user, so, all's
well that ends well.
Select Hew ice
There are several device options. Pressing 'W will select
'winlj; pressing 'X' will select 'win2 _'; pressing 'F' will
select 'Apr, pressing 'G' will select 'flp2_'; and, so on. Use
the 'other' option if you want to key in a device name (e.g.,
iomlj)
ff you are looking at the menu of filenames and want to
return to the SELECT DEVICE option, press '0' (zero);
however, you should note that all pre-selected filenames
will be lost.
Change Device
To expedite mufti- source ZIPping, you can change to
different devices by using a "CONTROL SHIFT
single letter" key combination. The following are
supported (you can modify the LISTing if you choose).
CTRL SHIFT F == flpl_
CTRL SHIFT M == mdvl_
CTRL SHIFT N == ndkl_
CTRL SHIFT 0 == roml_
CTRL SHIFT R == raml_
CTRL SHIFT W == winl_
To move from flpl_ to flp2_ (for example), simply use the
right_arrow key.
CONTROL LEFT key to move to the device designated
near the right_arrow near the bottom of the screen if the
device type differs from the currently accessed device.
Press '0' (zero) to access the SELECT DEVICE menu if
you want to start over.
Zipping A File
Presuming that the program has been properly typed in, if
ZXir QLive Alive!
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you want to ZIP a program, you simply have to press the
key which corresponds to the alphanumeric character in the
brackets '{ }' to the left of the filename The file will be
ZIPped and stored on your default DATAUSE device
(usually FLP2 _)
If you have more than 1 Meg of memory then you can
employ "DATA USE RAM2_", but, don't forget to
move the(se) ZIPped file(s) to a disk before quitting!
ABOUT THE LLISTing
ZipaDee is a modification of the DooDahbas program
LLISTing, and some meaningless statements may still be
included.
You should note the REMarked statements (Line 140 &
150). You can UN-REMark these if you have more than 1
Meg of memory
If you do not have a hard drive, then substitute "winl_"
with "flpl_" or any other appropriate device in Line 150 &
Line 160 and (especially) Line 1010.
There are some changes to the general program, but if
you already have a. functional copy of DooDah bas,
then you can just change the "Main" DEFine(d)
PROCedure to the following (your line numbers may
differ):
8nn LET Zipf ile$=Z$ (k+1 )
8nn filename$=t$&W$&"__"&Z$ (k+1)
8nn DoWhat$=Zipfile$&" "&filename$
8nn CLS#2
8nn IF k<c THEN EXEC_W
win 1 _z ip ; DoWhat $
As you can see, this will only provide limited functionality
by allowing only one file to be ZIPped at a time
If you want the capability to ZIP more than one file, then
you will probably want to input the LISTing below (also
based originally on the DooDah bas program, so you can
save some keyboard entry).
Originally, a more complex structure for multiple ZIPs
was being written, but in a moment of inspiration, I
realized that it might be possible to simply extend the
DoWhatS string; and, that is the method used.
The files to be included can be verified prior to ZIPping by
pressing the V key. The files you have selected will appear
in the upper part of the screen.
You will be asked for a ZIP file name after you have
selected all the files you want to ZIP.
The following listing provides an active menu of 57
filenames (three columns x 19 files). If the files
which you want to ZIP are not visible in the menu or
contained within a sub-directory, then you will want to
transfer the files to another source medium (e.g., rami , if
you have "extra" memory), or, modify the QLUTter bas
program to contain the MANE & MAIN procedures instead
of one of QLUTter's current utility PROCedures.
odnd damfudUtG^ (JLa "Xjjau ....
4 0 REMark
**************************************
ZIP-A-DEE 1.105b
by Al Feng
50 REMark *
60 REMark *
7 0 REMark * A ZIP FRONT END
8 0 REMark DATA_USE RAM1_: ********
as ZipaDee_bas *******
90 REMark COPY winl zip TO ram8 zip
SAVE
100F$="_FLIST imp": t$="win": S$="win": W$="l";
Do$=" "
110 pn=0: POKE 163890,0: MODE 0
120 WINDOW#2,512,256,0,0: PAPER#2,7:
BORDER# 2,1,7: INK# 2,0: CLS # 2 :
WINDOW#0 ,413,10,50,241: PAPER#0 , 0 :
INK#0, 7 : WINDOW462, 250, 25, 3:
OPEN#3, scr_458x200a27x48: u$=" ZipaDee
1.105 ": AT#2,21,4:
130 PRINT#2,u$;" by Al Feng "\TO 4;" @
1998 PLATYPUS Software ": PAUSE 30
140 PAPER 7: BORDER 1,7: CLS: CL: lne :
AT 0,7: PAPER 2: INK 7: PRINT"
SELECT_DEVICE ": cj
150 DEFine PROCedure CLSe: BLOCK
458,225,0,10,0: END DEFine
160 DEFine PROCedure CLSd:
BLOCK#2, 330, 10, 83, 240, 0: END DEFine
170 DEFine PROCedure CLSe: BLOCK
458, 190, 0, 45, pn: END DEFine
18 0 DEFine PROCedure CLSf: BLOCK
458,30,0,10,0: END DEFine
190 DEFine PROCedure Press: CLS#0:
INK#2,5: AT#2,24,30: PRINT#2 , "Press
Any_Key to Continue" : END DEFine
200 DEFine PROCedure sx : DIM Z$(60,32):
DELETE t$&W$&F$
210 OPEN_NEW # 6 , t $ & W$ & F$
220 DIR#6, t$&W$&"_" : CLOSE #6
230 OPEN_IN#7,t$&W$&F$: FOR c=0 TO 60
2.40 IF EOF (#7) THEN EXIT c
250 INPUT#7, Z$ (c) : END FOR c: CLOSE #7 :
c=c-l: END DEFine
2 60 DEFine PROCedure sw: IF W$<=8 THEN
g$=W$-l: IF W$>=1 THEN h$=g$+2
27 0 IF g$=0 AND t$="flp" THEN LET
tl$="ram": ELSE tl$="flp": END IF :
gl$=l
280 IF g$>0 THEN tl$=t$: gl$=W$-l: END
IF
290 END DEFine
300 DEFine PROCedure Rx: CLSf: INK#3,7:
PAPER#3,0: AT 2,3: PRINT
t $ / W$ ; "_" ; : INK 7 : PRINT Z $ ( 0 ) : Rx 1 : END
DEFine
310 DEFine PROCedure Rxl : FOR a=0 TO 18
32 0 IF a<l THEN a=a+a
330 FOR n=l+ a +a: AT#3,a,0:
PRINT#3 , " { " ,CHR$(n+a+48); " } " ;Z$(n+a+ 1 )
340 FOR n=2+a+a: AT#3,a,26:
PRINT #3, "{";CHR$ (n+a+48) ;"} ";Z$ (n+a+1)
350 FOR n=3+a+a: AT#3,a,52:
PRINT # 3 , " { " ; CHR$ ( n+ a +■ 4 8 ) ; ,f } " ; Z $ ( n+ a + 1 }
360 NEXT a: END FOR a: rx2 : END DEFine
370 DEFine PROCedure rx2
380 STRIP#2,0: INK#2,7
390 BLOCK 2,13,18,235,2: BLOCK
2,12,436,236,2: BLOCK 458,1,0,235,2
400 BLOCK 18,12,0,2.36,0
410 BLOCK 20,12,438,236,0
420 BLOCK 416,12,20,236,0
430 AT#2,2.4,5: INK#2,7:
PRINT#2,CHR$ (188) ; " ": AT#2,24,78:
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PRINT#2,CHR$ (18 9) ;" "
4 40 AT#2,24,8: INK#2,5:
PRINT#2,tl$&gl$; "_"TO 71;t$&h$;"_"
450 END DEFine
4 60 DEFine PROCedure Uu: sx: pn=0: CLSe:
Uv: END DEFine
470 DEFine PROCedure Uv: sw: Rx: k3: pk:
END DEFine
4 80 DEFine PROCedure Uw: wx: k3 : pk: END
DEFine
490 DEFine PROCedure pk: k=k-48
500 IF k=-21 THEN CLS#2: nd
510 IF k<-l AND k<>-14 THEN Uw
520 IF k=-14 THEN Uw
530 IF k=68 THEN Uv
540 IF k=144 THEN IF W$>1 THEN W$=W$-1:
Uu: ELSE : iX: Uw
550 IF k=118 THEN t$="flp": a$=l : sx:
MAIN
560 IF k=125 THEN t$="mdv" : a$=l: sx:
MAIN
570 IF k=126 THEM t$="ndk" : a$=l: sx:
MAIN
580 IF k=127 THEN t$="rom": a$=l: sx:
MAIN
590 IF k=130 THEN t$="ram" : a$=l: sx:
MAIN
600 IF k=135 THEN t$="win" : a$=l : sx:
MAIN
610 IF k=146 AND t$="ram" THEN t$="flp" :
LET a$=l: Uu
620 IF k=146 AND t$="win" THEN t$="flp":
LET a$=l: Uu
630 IF k=146 AND t.$="flp" THEN t$="ram":
LET a$=l: Uq
640 IF k=152 THEN IF W$<2 THEN W$=W$+1:
Uu: ELSE : iX: Uw
650 IF k=156 THEN W$=W$+1: Uu
660 IF k=79 THEN CLS#2: l.ne : t.re=3: WCh
670 IF k=0 THEN GO TO 14 0
680 IF k>=58 THEN Uw
690 END DEFine
700 DEFine PROCedure wx: STRIP#2,2:
INK#2,7: AT#2,24,29: PRINT#2 / "
ERROR " TO 49;" ERROR " : AT # 2 , 2 4 , 3 6 :
STRIP#2, 0:PRINT#2, '* WRONG KEY"; :
INK#2 / 5: PRINT#2 / "!": STRIP#2, 7 : INK#2, 0 :
B5: CLSd: B5: END DEFine
710 DEFine PROCedure iX: AT#2 / 24 / 35:
PRINT#2, "invalid drive": B5: PAUSE 10:
END DEFine
720 DEFine PROCedure k3: REPeat key
730 k=CODE ( INKEY$ ) : IF k>8 THEN EXIT key
74 0 END REPeat key: END DEFine
7 50 DEFine PROCedure yeano
7 60 REPeat ysn
77 0 c$=INKEY$
780 IF c$=CHR$(27) OR c$=="n" THEN
ok=0:EXIT ysn
790 IF c$=CHR$(10) OR c$=="y" THEN
ok=l:EXIT ysn
8 00 END REPeat ysn: END DEFine
810 :
820 DEFine PROCedure MANE
830 Do$=" "
840 MAIN
850 END DEFine
860 DEFine PROCedure MAIN
870 BORDER 1,2: BLOCK 458,12,0,0,2: STRIP
2: AT 0,37: INK 7: PRINT "zip"
880 CLSc: STRIP 0: INK 2: AT 2,5:
PRINT" ZIP ": sw: cr=0: Rx
890 k3: pk
900 IF k=-l THEN CLSf: INK 5: AT 1,0:
PRINT Do$: Press: PAUSE: Rx: GO TO 950
910 LET Zipfile$=Z$ (k+1)
920 fil.enarae$=t$&W$&"_"&Z$ (k+1)
930 AT 2,3: INK 7 : PRINT" ZIP " ; : INK
5: PRINT filename$ ;: INK 2: PRINT "
(y/n)"
940 yeano: IF ok THEN Do$=Do$&"
"&filename$:ELSE GO TO 950
950 CLSf: AT 2,3: INK 7: PRINT" ZIP ";:
INK 5: PRINT "another" ;: INK 2: PRINT "
(v/n)"
960 yeano: INK 2: IF ok THEN Bl : Rx:
STRIP#2,7: CLSd: rx2 : GO TO 890: ELSE GO
TO 970: END IF
97 0 CLSf: AT 2,3: INK 5: INPUT "ZIP file
name: ";name$
980 IF name$="" THEN GO TO 97 0
990 CLS#2
1000 DoWhat$=name$&" "&Do$
1010 EXEC_W winl_zip;DoWhat$
1020 CLS#2: BORDER#2 ,1,7: wx: MAIN: END
DEFine
1030 :
1040 DEFine PROCedure Bl: BEEP 100,10:
END DEFine
1050 DEFine PROCedure B2 : BEEP 200,20:
END DEFine
10 60 DEFine PROCedure B3: BEEP 900,20:
END DEFi.De
1070 DEFine PROCedure B4 : BEEP 900,40:
END DEFine
1080 DEFine PROCedure B5: B3: PAUSE 5:
B4: END DEFine
1090 DEFine PROCedure Ine:
BLOCK#2, 458, 1,24,2, 0:
BLOCK 4 58,1,0,10,0: END DEFine
1100 DEFine PROCedure nd: PAPER 7: Ine:
B2: tre=l: WCh: END DEFine
1110 DEFine PROCedure CL: BLOCK
450,2.20, 0, 11,7: PAPER 7: INK 2: AT
0,64: PRINT CHR$(188)& ? shift TAB ': AT
0,0: PRINT" TAB "&CHR$ (189) : INK 0:AT
0,7: PRINT " S E LE C T_DE V ICE ZIP "TO
57;" EXIT " : PAPER 2: INK 7: END DEFine
1120 DEFine PROCedure K4 : PAPER 7:
REPeat key
1130 i ke=CODE ( INKEY$ )
1140 IF ike=9 OR ike=32 OR ike=252 OR
ike=253 OR ike>4 7 AND ike<58 THEN B3:
EXIT key
1150 IF ike>=58 AND ike<252 THEN B4 : K4
1160 END REPeat key: END DEFine
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1170 DEFine PROCedure Pick
1180 IF ike=253 THEN B4 : PrvW
1190 IF ike=9 THEN B3: NxtW
1200 IF ike=252 THEN B4 : B5: GO TO 1530
1210 END DEFine
122 0 DEFine PROCedure NxtW
1230 tre=tre+l: IF tre=3 THEN tre=0
124 0 WCh: END DEFine
1250 DEFine PROCedure PrvW
1260 tre=tre-l: IF tre<0 THEN tre=2
127 0 WCh: END DEFine
1280 DEFine PROCedure WCh: lne: CL
1290 IF tre=0 THEN AT 0,7: PRINT"
SELECT_DEVICE ": K4 : Pick: cj
1300 IF tre=l THEN AT 0,22: PRINT" ZIP
": K4: Pick: CDS: MAIN
1310 IF tre=2 THEN AT 0,57: PRINT" EXIT
": K4: Pick: GO TO 1530
1320 END DEFine
1330 DEFine PROCedure cj : pn=7 : CLSe:
BLOCK 90,100,42,11,0: BLOCK
88, 99, 43, 11, 7
134 0 PAPER 0: INK 7: AT 10,7: S$=
1380 IF s=253 THEN B4: BLOCK
90,112,42,11,7: tre=3: WCh
1390 IF
W$="l"
1400 IF
W$="2"
1410 IF
W$="l"
1420 IF
W$="2"
1430 IF
W$="l n
s=77 OR s=109 THEN t$="mdv" :
GO TO 148 0
s=78 OR s=110 THEN t$="mdv" :
GO TO 1.480
s=70 OR s=102 THEN t$="flp":
GO TO 1480
s=71 OR s=103 THEN t$="flp":
GO TO 14 8 0
s=82 OR s=114 THEN t$="ram" :
50 TO 1480
-"ram"
:"wi.n"
:"win"
:$:
PRINT" [
INK 5: PRINT S$&W$;: INK
7: PRINT "_mode ] ": AT 11,7: PAPER 2:
PRINT u$: PAPER 7
1350 INK 0: BEEP 100,29: AT 2,9:
PRINT' "W" = winl_' : AT 4,9: PRINT' "F" =
flpl ': AT 6,9: PRINT '"R" = rami ': AT
8,9: PRINT 1 "O" = other'
13 60 s=CODE ( INKE Y$ ( - 1 ) )
1370 IF s=9 THEN B3: BLOCK
90,112,42,11,7: tre=l : WCh
1440 IF s=84 OR s=116 THEN t$=
W$="2" : GO TO 1480
1450 IF s=87 OR s=119 THEN t$=
W$="l" : GO TO 1480
1460 IF s=88 OR s=120 THEN t$=
W$="2" : GO TO 148 0
1470 IF s=79 OR s=lll THEN WINDOW#0,90,
30, 69, 84: PAPER# 0,7: INK# 0,2: other
1480 sx: B5: MANE : END DEFine
1490 DEFine PROCedure other : INK#0, 0 :
AT#0,0,7: PRINT #0, " "&CHRS (188) &"_
INK#0,2: AT#0,0,8: INPUT#0,t.$;: IF
LEN(t.$}<>3 THEN GO TO 1480: END IF
1500 INK#0,5: AT#0,0,11: PRINT#0,"_":
INK#0,2: AT#0,0,11:
INPUT#0,W$: IF CODE(W$)>56 OR
CODE(W$)<4 9 THEN GO TO 1510:
WINDOW#0, 413, 10, 50, 241 :END IF
1510 END DEFine
1520 CLS#2: PAPER#2,7: INK#2,2: AT#2,24,
32: PRINT#2,"@ PLATYPUS Software"
cr dpdate
by Al Feng
QLAMBer has recently been updated to reflect known
changes in QDOS compatible hardware
Wiaat's New
To facilitate greater user convenience, the new RomDisq is
acknowledged as a quick key device in the "other" option
(NB: it is my understanding that "rom" is the device name
for the RomDisq, and, this will be corrected if I am advised
it is different).
FLP device supported with ' f
MDV device supported with 'm'
NDK device supported with T n'
RAM device supported with 'r'
ROM device supported with 1 o'
WIN device supported with 'w T
Further, the "CONTROL SHIFT" quick_key combination
pioneered in ZipaDee bas has been incorporated into the
current version of QL AMBer (2 .205).
flpl _ device accessible with 'CTRL SHIFT f
mdvl_ device accessible with 'CTRL SHIFT ni
ndkl_ device accessible with 'CTRL SHIFT n'
raml_ device accessible with 'CTRL SHIFT r'
roml_ device accessible with 'CTRL SHIFT o'
winl_ device accessible with 'CTRL SHIFT w 1
Pressing one of these combinations will "return" you to the
EXEC W screen for the device selected .
QLAMBer is compatible with SMSQ (QXL), Minerva,
JS/JSU, QLAY (some limitations exist due to the
emulation) . If your current version is compatible with what
you are currently using and the ROM code is different than
those listed, then QLAMBer should continue to be
compatible.
How To Get Your Copy
If you have e-mail then you can get a FREE upgrade if you
have previously purchased a copy of QLAMBer, QLUSTer,
or QLUTter from either EMSoft, UPDATE!, or
PLATYPUS Software by simply e-mailing me
aifeng@juno.com
You will receive a ZIPped file that has been encoded
for transmission.
You will need to have the facility to decode the file.
A UUEncoded file will be sent unless you indicate
otherwise (i.e., MIME or BinHex).
To receive an upgrade by disk, please send $2.00 and
indicate disk size to: Al Feng
914 Rio Vista Circle SW
Albuquerque, NM 87105
ZXir QLive Alive
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Autumn 1998
QLRTter 1 . 1 0S
by A I Feng
QLATter is a freeware utility intended for use with
Jan Venema's QLAY emulator; but, it can be used with a
"regular" QL or any other QDOS compatible, too
The source code for the program has been corrected and
updated so that the COPY function works, and the
FORMAT® function has been replaced with a M@KJDIR
(faux/mock sub-DIRectory) option.
At the present time, Hard-COPY remains non-
functional due to limitations in the QL AY emulation; but, it
will work on other QDOS compatibles
QLATter supports easy sub-DIRectory access and is
Minerva and SMSQ compatible.
TK2 _EXTensions are not required.
SELECT DEVICE '0'
While QLATter's ' SELECT DEVICE' option does not have
"mdvQ" as a ready option, microdrives users can access
the two devices on their QL via 'other'
If you select 'other', then you can simply press 'm' and then
the <ENTER> key, followed by either T or '2* and then the
<ENTER> key, again
Otherwise, simply move the green bar up or down
using either the up arrow or down arrow key, or by
pressing the first letter of the device name
Change the device number by using the left_arrow or
right arrow key or by pressing a numeric key whose value
is between T & '8*.
M@K_DTR [F4]
M@K_D1R' allows you to create a fake/mock sub-
directory name ("fake_name ->) which will then allow you
to look at appropriately prefixed files (i.e., with the same
"name") as if they were in a MAKEJDIR created sub-
directory.
If you have selected the wrong device, then input
MORE than ten 10) characters in the name to reset or
simply press the (esc)ape key to exit.
The 'M@K_DIR' facility traps for duplicate filenames
on the same medium.
Getting A Copy Of QLATter
QLATter is really free if you send an e-mail message to me
at: alfeng@juno com
I will send you a UUENCODED ZIP file which you must
be capable of UUDECODing and UNZIPping at your end
You will also receive a QLATter txt file
If you do not have e-mail, then please send $1.00 in
the US or four (4) IRCs elsewhere to cover the cost of the
disk and postage. Please specify disk size.
You can contact me at
Al Feng
914 Rio Vista Circle SW
Albuquerque, NM 87105
Happy Trails,
And Computing, To You ...
Hcuu Id IH SBDsCd di
afifri i[T|
l Sffl n H H if m ffl
Les Cottrell
PART 4 - DECRYPTERS
By this point, you should be familiar with headerless
loaders, which take up the bulk of most protection
systems these days However, there is one other
important aspect of protection that you need to know
about if you are to crack the more complex protection
systems. It's encryption.
Encryption works like a secret code You start off
with something unintelligible, then you use the "secret
rules" to change it into something that makes sense So,
IBDLFST doesn't make much sense, but if you take the
previous letter in the alphabet each time, you get
HACKERS, which makes perfect sense. Encryption
works in roughly the same way. We've already seen that
a loading system occupies a small area of memory. An
encrypted loading system will appear as a block of code
which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever There will
also be a short program which changes all this nonsense
into workable code so the loading system can be run.
Some really tough loading systems, have more than one
decrypter, such as the Alkatrazz loading system which
has 250 of the damn things; in practice I've got through
about 25 before going mad and hacking something else
(don't worry, there's another way of hacking them which
I'll tell you about later.)
To make it easier for you to understand decryption,
its best to have a look at a real loading system As an
example, I've chosen Impossaball, which was on the
YS#75 covertape. Load up STK at address 50000 (it's a
safe address), and see what the BASIC has to say for
itselfbvBLOADingit
10 CLEAR 64530 LOAD CODE RANDOMIZE USR
64531
20 LOAD CODE 16384
21 FOR i=l TO 40 STEP - RANDOMIZE USR 50000
Fair enough - so enter CLEAR 64530:LOAD
CODE and start the tape The first code block loads in,
and then - it crashes! What's going on? Don't worry, you
have just fallen victim to the first type of encryption -
BASIC encryption.
In BASIC, any numerical constant (techno-twaddle
for "number") between 0 and 65,535 is stored in the
memory as follows. First, there is the number in it's
ASCII form, which takes between 1 and 5 bytes So, the
number 1234 will appear as #30,#31#,#32,#33 here.
Then, come the numbers #0D,#00 and 00 (this is always
the case) Then, there is the number stored in it's two
byte form (as in machine code). What happens it that the
computer prints the ASCII form (which is what you get
when you LIST a program), but uses the two-byte form
in calculations and expressions. The upshot of all this is
that what you see isn't always what you get! As an
example, type in this:
1 PRINT l
Now type POKE 23760,50 (which changes the
ASCH value of the number 1 from "1" to "2") Now if
you LIST the program, you will see 1 PRINT 2, but if
ZXir QLive Alive!
16
Autumn 1998
you RUN the program, the computer will print the
number 1 instead!
Needless to say, protection systems use the same
idea. Sometimes, the numbers listed are obviously fake
(if you list a program and you get something like 0
CLEAR 0: RANDOMIZE USR 0 it's obviously got
encrypted BASIC), but some programs, like the
Impossaball are not obvious at all until you try executing
what you see.
There was a program called *List printed ages ago
in YS, but if you haven't got that, I've reprinted it here.
So type it in, SAVE it to tape, RUN it and reload the
Impossaball BASIC loader,
loading LINE 10LEN81
10 CLEAR 255 99: LOAD CODE : RANDOMIZE
USR 64512
20 LOAD CODE 16384
21 FOR i=l TO 40 STEP ????....
Now that's what you really get! Type CLEAR
25 599 :LQ AD CODE and load in the first block of
code. When that's done, load up your disassembler, and
disassemble address 64512 (FC00 hex) to have a look at
the decrypter
FC00 01 99 02 LD BC,#0299
FC03 21 13 FC LD HL,#FC13
FC06 11 14 FC LD DE,#FC14
This part of the progr am sets up all the initial values for
the Decrypters in some of the registers
FC09 LA LD A, (DE)
We've come across brackets before, but briefly
what happens here is that the contents of the address with
the value of the DE register (which starts of as #FC14)
are put into the A register. So now the A register could
contain any byte.
FC0A AE XOR (HL)
We haven't seen XOR before, so I'll explain what
it does. It is in technical terms a Boolean Operation. You
may have seen XOR gates if you studied (or are
studying!) Physics, Electronics or Computer Science at
school. An XOR gate has two inputs, which can each
either be 0 or I, and one output, which can be either 0 or
1 as well. If the two inputs are the same (0 and 0, or 1
and 1), the output is 0, otherwise it is 1. In machine code,
you XOR the A register with a number or contents of a
register, and what happens is that each bit in the A
register is XORed with the same bit in the number or
register contents, and the result is stored in the A
register. If you're confused, look at the example below.
Contents of the A register 00100101
Number to be XORed with 0 1 0 1 00 1 1
Result 01110110
(Notice that all the numbers are in binary - see your
Spectrum manual for more information about this).
if you still don't understand, just remember that an
XOR will change the contents of the A register That's
all you need to remember for now.
Continuing the disassembly...
FC0B 77 LD (HL) ,A
This puts the value of A (which has just been
changed) into the bytes at the address with the value of
the HL register (which starts off as #FC13).
So, the routine has basically taken a byte out of a
memory location, changed it a bit, and put the altered
value back again. This is decryption in its most obvious
form - the changed values make up a working machine
code program
FC0C 23 INC HL
FC0D 13 INC DE
FC0E 0B DEC BC
I don't think I've mentioned INC before, but it's
basically the opposite of DEC in that it increases the
value in whatever register So the values in the HL and
DE registers are incremented, and the value in the BC
register is decremented.
FC0F 7 8 LD A, B
FC10 Bl OR C
FC11 20 F6 JR NZ,#FC09
This is a standard piece of code, and it essentially
means "If BC isn't 0, then jump to #FC09". In other
words, another byte will be decrypted until the value of
BC is 0 (which happens when everything has been
decrypted), and the decrypter ends.
Continuing the disassembly .
FC13 5C LD E,H
FC14 9F SBC A, A
FC15 A5 AND L
FC16 5B LD E, E
FC17 13 INC DE
FC18 5B LD E,E
Hang on - this code doesn't make sense! It has no
relation to the code above, and the instruction LD E,E is
pointless anyway. Well, you'll remember that the initial
value of decryption is #FC13, which means that all the
code from there onwards has to be decrypted So we'll
have to crack the decrypter to go any further.
Sometimes, it is possible to put an EI/RET
instruction directly after the decrypter, but this is not
possible here, as you will see So instead, we'll have to
move the decrypter somewhere else in memory, and put
the EI/RET on the end (in actual fact we don't need the
EI because there is no DI command in the decrypter)
This is easily done by using the LDIR command. Type in
the following program
1 FOR N=23296 TO 2 3310: INPUT A: POKE
N, A: NEXT N
Now RUN it and enter the following numbers:
33, 0, 2 52, 17, 1.2 8, 91,1,1,18,0,237, 17 6,54,2 01
,201
The program you have just typed in is this
LD HL,FC00
LD DE,5B80
LD BC, 0012
LDIR
LD (HL),C9
RET
Now RANDOMIZE USR 23296 and the decrypter
will be copied to 5B80 and a RET will be stuck on the
end. Just RANDOMIZE USR 23424 (5B80 in decimal)
to run the decrypter When the OK message comes up,
restart the disassembler and look at FC13 again:
FC13 C3 3A FEJP #FE3A
This jumps to #FE3 A, to start the loading.
FE3A F3 DI
FE3B 21 00 58 LD HL,#5800
FE3E 11 01 58 LD DE,#5801
FE41 01 FF 02 LD BC,#02FF
FE44 36 00 LDIR
As you already know, this makes the screen black.
ZXir QLive Alive!
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Autumn 1998
FE48 CD 81 FE CALL #FE81
FE4B CD 00 80 CALL #8000
If you look at the code at #FE81, you'll see it's a
headerless loader The routine at #8000 prints the loading
screen
FE4E CD 81 FE CALL #FE81
FE51 CD 00 64 CALL #6400
This loads another block (the main game), and prints
another screen (the border for the game).
FE54 F3 DI
FE55 31 FF FFLD SP,#FFFF
This disables interrupts and changes the stack pointer, so
we'll have to change that in the final hack
FE58 21 00 6DLD HL,#6000
FE5B 11 00 5BLD DE,#5BQ0
FE5E 01 00 8FLD BC,#8F00
FE61 ED BO LDIR
This is another LDIR command, but if you know
how the Spectrum's memory is organised, you will see
that the BASIC system variables are overwritten, which
means we can't return to BASIC when the game has
loaded. Fortunately, there's a short routine to get round
this, which I'll explain in a mo.
FE63 21 71 FELD HL,#FE71
FE66 1.1 00 FOLD DE,#F000
FE69 01 10 00 LD BC,#0010
FE6C ED B0 LDIR
FE6E C3 00 F0 JP F000
This moves the code from FE71 to F000, and jumps to
F000. Obviously, then, the code at FE71 is important.
FE71 21 00 FC LD HL,#FC0 0
FE74 11 01 FC LD DE,#FC01
FE77 01 FF 01 LD BC,#01FF
FE7A 36 0 0 LD (HL) , 0
FE7C ED B0 LDIR
FE7E C3 0 0 8 0 JP #8000
This routine wipes out all the memory from #FC00
to #FC0 1 , but in actual fact you don't need to do this.
Then it jumps to #8000, which is the start of the game.
So, we can put a machine code routine to put a POKE in,
and then jump to #8000.
However, we've got to find the POKE first, and
there's the problem that we can't use BASIC because it
is overwritten. Luckily, there is a short routine you can
use which will cause a NEW to a certain address. Put it
into the above program by typing in the following:
1 FOR N-65137 TO 65144: INPUT A: POKE
N, A: NEXT N
Then RUN it, and enter these numbers in turn:
243, 175, 1.7, 0, 95, 195, 20.3, 17
The program you've just typed in is the following:
DI
XOR A
LD DE,#5F00
JP #11CB
DI disables interrupts, XOR A loads A with 0
(think about what would happen if you XORed the value
of the A register with itself, LD DE,#5F00 means we
want to NEW up to #5F00 (this value can be changed
from about #5D00 to #FFFF), and JP #11 CB starts the
NEW.
Now RANDOMIZE USR 65082 (#FE3A in
decimal), and restart the game tape When the computer
resets, you can load STK into address 24320 to find
POKEs.
Phew! And that's about all of that protection
system cleared up. If you can get your way through that
lot, I think you're probably ready to have a go at a
"commercial" protection system. First, though, we'll
write a complete hack for the game
10 CLEAR 25599: LOAD CODE
This is from the BASIC loader, and it loads in the first
machine code block
20 FOR N-23296 TO 23310: READ A: POKE
N, A: NEXT N
This line POKEs in the machine code program to move
the decrypter
30 DATA 33,0,252,17,128,91,1,19,0,237,
176, 54,201, 201
And here's the actual machine code itself
40 RANDOMIZE USR 2 32 96
This line calls the decrypter and returns to BASIC
40 FOR N=65137 TO 65143: READ A: POKE
N, A: NEXT N
This line POKEs in our hacking program
50 DATA 175, 50, ??,??, 195, 0,12 8
And here's the hacking program, which loads ???? with
0 (which is the infinite lives POKE), and jumps to
#8000.
60 RANDOMIZE USR 65082
This starts the whole loading system off, with the
POKE firmly in place
And that's about it. A bit of a long piece of work,
but it was worth it!
PART 5 - Advanced Hacking Methods
Remember in Part 2, when I said there were other ways
of hacking, apart from forwards and backwards tracing?
Well, you can find them here But you need a Multiface
to be able to use them The two we're interested with
here are what I call a stack trace and an interrupt trace.
STACK TRACE
We've already come across the stack as a means of
storing numbers. What you haven't come across yet is
how the stack is used Well, in a CALL to a subroutine,
what actually happens is that the return address from the
subroutine (which is the address after the CALL
instruction) is stored on the stack, and with a RET, the
top value of the stack is taken off and jumped to
With a Multiface, the value on the top of the stack
is the return address to the program, and subsequent
values refer to return addresses in subroutines.
To do a stack trace, load and play the game, and
wait until the "death effect" occurs - this may be a beep,
a flashing border or something else recognizable. Now
quickly press the Multiface button during this effect - if
you're too slow, you won't get the values you're looking
for (so return to the game and die again). Now, look at
the value of the stack pointer (your Multiface manual
will tell you how to do this), and write down all the
values on top of the stack for the first ten bytes. All
numbers are stored in the normal reversed two-byte
form, so if the bytes on the top of the stack were
#00,#80,#80,#70,#90,#60, the values would be
#8000,#7080 and #6090 Have a look at all of these
addresses - you should find that some of them are
addresses right after CALL instructions.
Now for the hacking bit - go to one of these address
and write down the two bytes there. Then change them to
ZXir QLive Alive!
18
Autumn 1998
the magic codes #18 and #FE (this is the machine code
version of JR -2, which is an endless loop, a bit like 1
GOTO 1 in BASIC) Restart the game, and hopefully,
you'll find that the game pauses as soon as you do
something which would normally result in you losing a
life' (If not, replace the #18FE with the original two
bytes, look at another address on the "hit list" and repeat
the whole procedure).
Once you've found a target address, try putting a
RET (#C9) at the start of the subroutine. If this just
cancels the death effect, but you still "die", activate the
Genie Disassembler if you have it (or use the NEW
routine in Part 4 at any address, then load in STK or
Devpac somewhere far away from the area of memory
you're looking at), and search for CALLs to this routine
Then so back from this CALL until you find a RET or a
JP, and search for the address of the instruction after this
(if nothing comes up, search for one more than this, then
two more etc.) You will hopefully either see one of
these:
jp z
JP NZ
JP C
JP NC
(The JP may be a JR or a CALL instead)
Simply overwrite this instruction with NOPs to get
immunity or something similar.
On the other hand, when searching from the C ALL
address, you may find a JP Z or JP NZ, etc. Change this
to an unconditional JP to get immunity.
INTERRUPT TRACE
This involves looking at the interrupt routine in the
game. Since the whole routine must be executed in
1/S0th of a second, the routines are usually quite short,
especially if there is a LDJR or something similar Most
of the time you'll find infinite time in this routine
(because interrupts work in real time, so its an ideal place
to put a time routine), and you need a Multiface to find
Load the game and start playing as normal. Then
activate the Multiface, and have a look at the I register . If
the value is #3F, there are no special interrupts, so forget
about an interrupt trace altogether (but you can use a
stack trace which will make the clock loop round to 99 or
whatever when it reaches 0). If it is between #80 and #FF
(and if it's not in that range and not #3F you've probably
crashed the computer!), go to the address #100 time that
of the value in the I register (so if the value of I is #F0,
look at #F000). You will see an area of memory filled
with the same number Go to this address (if this area of
memory is filled with #FE, go to #FEFE etc.) There will
either be a jump to the interrupts routine, or the interrupts
routine itself Have a look at the routine, and somewhere
you will see the commands to decrease the timer - just
remove the DEC instruction to get infinite time.
RMG
Inventory
5 TS 1016 16K RAM Pak (1000)
2 Magic Bridge- 1 6K RAM Packs
4 MODEM-Byte-Back Spectraterm V 1 . 3 (2068)
4 E-Z Key-Upload 2000 (2068)
4 Timex-Circuit Board Scramble (2068)
5 Timex-Crazybugs (2068-T)
1 Wilcox-Tarot (2068)
1 Wilcox- Yacht (2068, S/W)
14 Keytops-Cricket House (2068, HAY)
10 Keyboard-E Z Key Interface Kit (1000, 2068)
1 Printer-TS2040 Complete (Used)
94 Timex-Spelling I (2068-T, S/W)
8 Timex-Crazybugs (2068-T, S/W)
7 Timex-States & Capitals (2068-T, S/W)
6 Book-Sams Beginner/Intermediate Guide
6 Book- Sams Intermediate/Advanced Guide
10 Book-Computer Interfacing In Science (1000/2068)
14 Book-T/S 2068 Basics & Beyond (S/W, 2068)
6 Computer-TS 1000 (H/W)
4 Keytops-Cricket House (1000) (H/W)
1 Compusa-Keyboard Bleeper Kit ( 1 000, H/W)
1 Keyboard-Ti Surplus (1000, 1500, H/W)
13 Book-The Ins & Outs Of TS1000 (S/W, 1000(1500)
20 Book-TS 1000 Owners Manual (S/W)
46 Mindware-Gulp(1000, S/W)
2 Pad-TS 1000 Computer/RAM Desk Pad (H/W)
52 Softsync- Alien Invasion (1000, S/W)
52 Softsync-Red Alert! (1000, S/W)
49 Softsync-2K Games (1000, 1500, S/W)
7 Timex-Budgeter ( 1 000, S/W)
24 Timex-The Carpooler (1000, S/W)
12 Timex-The Challenger I (1000, S/W)
27 Timex-ChessUOOO, S/W)
16 Timex-College Cost Analyzer (1000, S/W)
I Timex-Gambler ( 1 000, S/W)
25 Timex-Grimms Fairy Trails (1000, S/W)
6 Timex-Heating System Analyzer (1000, S/W)
I I Timex-Ira Planner (1 000, S/W)
32 Timex-Loan Mortgage Amortizer (1000, S/W)
1 Timex-Mixed Game Bag I ( 1 000, S/W)
16 Timex-Money Analyzer I (1000, S/W)
2 Timex-Money Analyzer 2 (1000, S/W)
1 Timex-Power Pak I (1000, 1500, S/W)
30 Timex-States & Capitals (1000, S/W)
28 Timex-Super Math (1000, S/W)
Jack Boatwright
87325 Fryrear Rd.
Bend, OR 97701
541-389-7353 (H)
j boatno4 @,outlawnet.com
For the inventory at J. Shepard, Iowa
Check with Frank Davis at F WD Computing.
ZXir QLive Alive!
19
Autumn 1998
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